UNF freshman Cameron Mack gets ready for a round of pool in the game room at the Student Union complex on the university's campus. The building serves as a gathering place for a variety of activities and groups.

UNF junior Phillip Simmons soaks up the sun's rays while relaxing in the lazy river at the Osprey Fountains dormitory.

There were less than 30 seconds left on the clock for the University of North Florida Ospreys to best their rival, and the noise was deafening.

The basketball game was tied; the crowd was on its feet. Most of the students wore UNF shirts, passed out before the game with hot dogs and hamburgers by Student Government. They heckled the cross-town Jacksonville University Dolphins and chanted their own school's initials. When a free throw swooshed through the net, the crowd shouted in unison: "Swoop!"

It's a scene taken for granted at many colleges with more history and a longer track record of school spirit. It was only two years ago that UNF's basketball team rose to the Division 1 level and started seeing its name scrolling on the sports networks. And it wasn't so long ago there were more chests on campus emblazoned with the University of Florida mascot than UNF's.

The basketball Ospreys lost that January game at the buzzer, but in many ways the night was a win for Ospreykind.

The crowds keep getting bigger. There are small tailgates, more cheers and traditions being built. Only recently could players expect fans to paint their faces, don Ospreys gear and fill the arena like they did for this year's rivalry game.

And the excitement is not just about sports; a disaffected student body has appeared to grow in school spirit as they're given more reasons to be proud.

The personal touch

Commuters and on-campus students alike say they came to UNF because the small classes and reasonably sized campus promised personal attention. Though other state universities have poured resources into research and new programs, UNF has focused on student life. The school has devoted hundreds of millions of dollars to new buildings and dorms that administrators believe have built a more vibrant campus.

The $80 million new dorm, Osprey Fountains, increased on-campus residency by 1,000. It has a lazy river and pool as well as amenities like a convenience store, gym, video game rooms and sports lounges that leave the school's more traditional dorms in the dust.

"With the Fountains, you're beginning to see an enthusiasm and energy coming to campus," said Paul Riel, housing and residence life director. "Students are wanting to be a part of that."

It's a big departure from UNF's decades-long reputation as a commuter school.

Hank Isaacs of Atlantic Beach graduated from UNF in 1977, transferring there after two years at the University of Florida. It was just what he was looking for: a "no-nonsense" commuter school with small classes and few distractions.

"I had no involvement in college life," he said. "There were no campus activities. I was typical of the average student going there: They would go to class, go to work, go to class again, then go to work."

Alumni who graduated even 10 years ago may not recognize the center of campus, where a $50.4 million student union houses cafes, convenience stores, conference space and the home base for dozens of clubs and organizations.

The old building was like the Catacombs, said Justin Camputaro, director of the Student Union. You had to know where you were going to get there. But now the double glass buildings stand in the center of campus, surrounded by yard signs advertising clubs' events, sidewalk chalk announcements of activities and plenty of green space for students to gather.

"Having never had a true student union before, this was that tipping point," Camputaro said. "I believe this plus Division 1 will be the two things that move UNF into its next phase in its history. These two pieces are really making it more of a traditional state campus."

Still missing, though, say some of the 1,200 members of 24 fraternities and sororities, is a Greek Row. Though on-campus housing has been in the college's master plan for years, who will pay for the construction is still under negotiation.

Justin Schaffer, a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, said demand is high from the groups that are now scattered through the campus and nearby rentals. Some members rent houses together or room together in dorms, he said, but it's nowhere close to the same.

"With housing on campus, there will be better recruitment, and more opportunities for brotherhood," said Schaffer, a senior. "To take UNF to the next level of Greek life, Greek housing needs to happen."

Sense of community

Brittany DiStefano transferred to UNF after attending community college in Tallahassee, where she lived alongside Florida State University's campus.

The nightlife is certainly different from Tallahassee and more traditional college towns. The St. Johns Town Center has been a vast improvement, offering restaurants and bars just a couple of miles away, and the clubs of Jacksonville Beach are a short drive. But the campus, still largely enveloped in nature, is not within walking distance of any off-campus entertainment venues.

That works for DiStefano, a vocal major more interested in small gatherings, eating a bagged lunch on the green with her friends and enjoying the nature trails and kayaking on campus.

"My mind-set is not about having clubs to go to," DiStefano said. "Here we can do that, or we can stay home and have a potluck, or go to a cute cafe, or play by the beach."

The biggest difference from living near Florida State is that there she felt like she had to look cool. Here, she doesn't mind enthusiastically dashing around campus passing out free swag for her employer and landlord, The Flats at Kernan, or humming to herself on the quiet morning shuttle to warm up her vocal chords.

"I can be me here," she said.

Caitlin Scott also found a home at UNF - in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Resource Center, one of only two fully staffed and independent centers in the state.

It was created after a survey more than five years ago found that the campus was not a welcoming place for gay and lesbian students. Soon, sexual orientation was added to the university's non- discrimination policy. Some benefits were extended to domestic partners of faculty and staff. And the LGBT Resource Center opened with the purpose of educating the entire community and making it a safe campus.

Scott is a program assistant there who initially chose UNF because of the resources available for students with learning disabilities. She quickly found the community at the LGBT Resource Center, and that became her support group and second home.

She organizes panels for classroom discussions and often sits in, answering her fellow students' questions about gender identity and sexual orientation. She likes the focus it gives her as well as the change she feels she can help make for other LGBT students.

She doesn't socialize much outside the center - she needs more time for studies and moved off campus - but her role there has kept her connected.

"If I'd gone to another school," Scott said, "I don't know if I would've been as involved."

Even a few years ago, student involvement seemed a lot lower. When Chris Warren arrived as a freshman, he was constantly astonished at how many classmates wore UF clothes around campus instead of UNF's.

He saw a challenge.

"I don't want us to be Florida, or even Florida State," Warren said. "We are our own group of people, and we need to take part in that."

He now ends phone conversations and emails with the words "Fly Hard," his nod to the Ospreys. The public relations major and rising senior was the director of student life this year, and the group organized countless T-shirt giveaways and other rallies to try to boost school spirit. He also wrote a creed that was adopted schoolwide.

I am the University of North Florida, it begins. I am loyal to the nest without reservation.

"We want them to love this place," Warren said. "It will only get bigger and better."